A crisis communications expert's perspective on current events

Month: October 2016

I’m generally opposed to flat-out fabrication as a way of generating attention but I’ve got to hand it to whoever created this brilliant bit of viral attention grabbing that had Facebook blowing up all day long with people “checking in” at the Standing Rock protests to “confuse law enforcement” that was allegedly using FB to … More The Standing Rock Check-In Hoax

I’m going to climb way out on a limb here and make a prediction about what the FBI discovers when they dig into the matter of the Abedin email “trove” discovered on Anthony Weiner’s laptop. Huma is reportedly mystified about how thousands of HER emails ended up on HIS laptop. This is pure speculation but … More Prediction about Huma Abedin Emails

Stories like this CNN piece about early voting habits are getting caught in the fallacy of assuming that voting in the presidential election will break along party registration lines. So they’re reporting, for example, that in Arizona 164,000 Democrats have cast early ballots compared to 160,000 Republicans. But that’s almost meaningless, given the rupture in the … More Misleading Coverage of Early Voter Statistics

This is a topic close to my heart. One of my first really difficult jobs in the strategic communications world was designing ways to encourage and support FARC rank-and-file soldiers in Colombia to demobilize. It’s very difficult to bring someone to the point of walking away from not just an ideology but a way of … More How to Create an Exit Ramp for Trump Followers

If you’ve ever watched even a single episode of a reality TV show like Master Chef, America’s Top Model and, yes, The Apprentice you’ve seen the signs that someone is about to get fired or voted off the island. In the jargon of TV production that’s the Loser Edit. What starts with little observed stumbles … More The Presidential “Loser Edit” Has Begun

Former House Speaker and Wrestling Coach Dennis Hastert Reports to Federal Prison It’s been amusing to watch the dance as Republican candidates try to put daylight between themselves and the now-toxic candidacy of Donald Trump. One might imagine it would be easy, in the wake of Trump’s “grab them by the pussy” bombshell video, for … More The REAL Reason Republicans Fear Dumping Trump